Montana Leadership by the Numbers: Who’s Older Than the State’s Median Age?

Running for a political office isn't an easy thing to do. There is the fundraising, the debating, the traveling, and that is all before you even take office.

If you want to run for the President of the United States of America, you need to be at least 35 years old. United States Senators must be at least 30 years old. But if you want to run for the House of Representatives or the Governor of Montana, you only need to be 25 years old to qualify for office.

Like most states, Montana's representatives are older than the state's median age, but that wasn't always the case. Governor Thomas Lee Judge was the 18th governor of Montana when he was just 38 years old back in 1973.

These days the age of most of our state representatives is older than our median population age. According to Strive Messaging, who has broken down the age gaps between Governors, Senators and House Representatives across the U.S., Montana is like most states with older representation.

Montana's median age is 40.2 years old, according to Data USA. Here is the breakdown of Montana's leadership ages.

• Montana's Governor Greg Gianforte, who recently turned 64 years old, making him 24 years older than our median population age.
• Montana's U.S. Senator Steve Daines is 62; he is 22 years older.
• Montana's U.S. Senator Tim Sheehy is 39 years old; he is just under the median age.
• Montana's Representative Ryan Zinke is 63 years old; 23 years older.
• Montana's Representative Troy Downing is 58 years old; 18 years older.

Overall the average age of governors across the country is 60 years old, Senators is 63, while House representatives are younger with an average age of 58.